Nineteen months after Heath Ledger's sudden passing, his latest directorial work – the Modest Mouse's music video for King Rat has been released online at WeAreTheMasses.com. The song is a bonus track from their 2007 album, We Were Dead before the Ship Even Sank."
The six-minute, animated video is both whimsical and dark, showing whales and dolphins aboard a ship, fishing for humans in the water. It raises awareness of the commercial, illegal whale hunts conducted off the coast of Australia and it concludes with a dedication to Heath which reads, "This began with our friend, a great defender of life, and was completed in his spirit."
Ledger was 28 when he died last year. Modest Mouse announced in March that it would release the video "in honor of Heath's last piece of work as a director," according to spokeswoman Lisa Markowitz. The actor previously directed a video for one of Ben Harper's songs.
